I'd Like to See You
by Hopeful Romantic
Summary: A short ficlit about John and Delenn and the first time that he asks her for a date.


**Disclaimer: **The Great Maker, JMS, and the grand High Mucky Mucks own Babylon 5, not me( Duh-smile). I am not making any money from this, obsessions can be like that. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Rating: **PG I believe.

**Timeline:** "Ceremonies" and "Sic Transit Vir"

**Summary: **A short ficlit about John and Delenn and the first time that John asksher for a "date."

**Author's Notes: **Warning, this ficlit may cause sugar shock, so if you are not looking for sappy fluff, may I recommend not reading this piece :). This is also a re-post since my original posts seem to have gone the way of the Dodo. The only changes should be spelling correction-etc.

Some dialouge directly from "Sic Transit Vir."

**Feedback:** I love feedback and any constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you to everyone and "Shorty51" and "loka" for reviewing the first post. Hopeful Romantic hands out virtual chocolate to everyone, all the fun, none of the fat ;)

_

* * *

__I'd Like to See You_

**John...**

He had found a quiet place in the gardens on a bench amongst a small copse of trees. The cherry blossoms trembled on the branches around him as they gently spiraled down to the ground in the warm recycled air. They settled lightly on the grass at his feet, releasing a subtle fragrance. John watched their quiet dance through the air as they fell, and thought of Delenn. He was certain that he was grinning like a fool, but just now, he didn't care. Just now, he was happy.

He had told her. At the Rebirth ceremony he had let Delenn know how he felt.

"I love her," he whispered softly, and felt the joy of saying it fill him. "I love her," he repeated, the wonder of it clear in his voice.

He reached down to pick up a blossom from next to his feet. He found himself thinking that it was very delicate and graceful, but at the same time, it was as mysterious and complex as it was lovely, just like Delenn.

John gave a lopsided smile, "I'm as bad as one of those old movies that Garabaldi watches," he said somewhat wryly. "Next thing you know, I'll be singing 'a kiss is just a kiss." Then he shrugged lightly and grinned, _"So be it," _he thought.

As he continued to contemplated the blossom, he found himself thinking of what he had told Delenn for the Rebirth ceremony, and asked himself quietly, _"When did it happen?" _

What he had told Delenn was true, he didn't know how or when it had happened, only that he was glad that it had. What he hadn't told her, was why he didn't know.

With her, love felt new and old all at once. He felt as he had never felt before, giddy with the fresh wonder of it all. At the same time, with Delenn, it felt like coming home. It felt like he had always been with her; had always belonged with her. And that was something that he didn't quite know how to explain. He was uncertain how it could feel like his love for her had always been, but at the same time, like it was the newest wonder in his universe.

New too, was allowing himself to freely think of loving Delenn There was nothing clouding his thoughts of the beautiful ambassador. Now that he had jumped, he let his heart do what it had wanted to do for a long time. And with pleasure, John thought about holding Delenn, feeling her in his arms, kissing her.

_"I have to do this right,"_ he thought suddenly.

_"Before, I rushed things, with Elizabeth." _John frowned lightly as he thought of that. _"If I hadn't, maybe we wouldn't have hurt each other so much."_

_"With Anna, I always took it for granted. We both did. Always thought that there would be a next time. Or that our love would wait for our careers," _John's face turned dark as he thought of his lost wife.

"No," he said softly, "I love Delenn. This has to be right."

Then he smiled as he thought of the perfect thing to do...

**Delenn...**

She knelt before the small table with its single glowing candle and tried to meditate. Normally, she would have had little difficulty slipping into a calm meditative state, but at this moment, she was finding it hard to reach a place of stillness in her mind. It was almost distressing how easily her mind turned to thoughts of John.

Delenn shook her head slightly and took a deep breath in an attempt to refocus on her meditations. She turned her eyes to the flickering candle flame. _"I wonder what his eyes would look like in the candlelight," _the unbidden thought came to her.

Delenn sighed, frustrated with herself. She tried once more, but again, thoughts of John intruded.

_"I wonder what it would be like to kiss him?" _

Delenn's pulse raced at the thought, and she took a moment to still it. This time, she sighed, but didn't attempt to refocus on her mediations. Instead, Delenn let her mind wander into thoughts of John. In her mind's eye, she could see him: tall, strong, and handsome.

Her mouth quirked a little at her musings and she felt a little giddy at the turn of her thoughts.

_"I never dreamed that I could love a human," _she thought.

It was almost frightening to think of how much she could let herself love the human captain. When she was with him, it felt dizzyingly new, yet, at the same time, as if it had always been. She had never imagined feeling this way, and it was a heady experience for her. If she were honest, Delenn found herself almost frightened by the depth of feeling that she had for John.

When he had told her at theRebirth ceremony, what he felt for her, it was as if the whole universe had stood still for a moment, then sighed as the pieces of itself fit themselves together. She had said nothing then, merely reached for him. It had been so wonderful to hear him tell her that he was glad that he had fallen in love with her. She was also very happy that she had fallen in love with him, even if it still frightened her a little.

"I love John," she whispered.

The quiet statement turned her thoughts firmly in a direction that would not allow mediation. With a soft sigh, Delenn snuffed the candle gently and rose to see if a walk would help matters...

**The Zocolo...**

John caught sight of Delenn as she made her way through the crowded marketplace. For a moment, he let himself simply admire the way she moved gracefully through the narrow spaces and stalls. Then quickly, he caught up with her.

"Morning, Delenn," he greeted her.

"Captain," she replied, "How are things with your government?" Delenn said, certain that with even such a simple question, he could easily read her racing thoughts at being near him. But if he could, he said nothing about it, merely answered her query.

"For the moment, blissfully quiet; at least as far as we're concerned. President Clark's having a hard time keeping everything bottled up back home, so we're not on the top of his list of priorities right now."

"The Resistance?" Delenn continued, finding comfort in discussing the familiar matters of government and diplomacy. She felt her wayward thoughts focus and her pulse stop in it's mad race as she spoke of such things with the captain.

"Gathering their forces; getting their people into place. With everybody busy planning their next move, we get a break. It'll be short, but I'll take it," John replied, pausing before he plunged into his reason for seeking Delenn out.

"Which brings me to you."

"Me?" Delenn felt her pulse speed up again.

"Yes, you know, every time that I have seen you lately, we've been in the middle of a crisis; a revolution. I mean, this is the first time in months that it's been this quiet. It won't last. It never does. But as long as it's here," John paused, stopping to look into Delenn's eyes. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the woman before him.

"I'd like to see you tonight."

_"There,"_ he thought, _"I've done it."_

Delenn smiled playful, letting herself enjoy how having him look at her like that made her feel.

"Are you not seeing me now? I would think that you see me every time we meet. Unless I have become translucent or insubstantial, and nobody has thought to inform me until now."

John looked ardently at her, his voice deepening, "Then let me say, I'd like to see you in a different light. Candlelight for instance...Over dinner?"

"Tonight?" Delenn asked, loosing her playful tone for a moment.

"Tomorrow we may be involved in another crisis; another battle... This may be the last chance we get for awhile," he replied, hoping that it sounded like a reasonable response.

Really, he just needed to be with her, wanted more than anything to begin this thing that he felt could happen between them.

Suddenly, not wanting to loose this chance, he matched her playful tone of earlier and said, "You know, back home we have an old saying, 'eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow, we die."

"Humans can be a very depressing people," Delenn said lightly.

"Only if we get turned down for dinner," John replied, his voice low and his look significant.

"Well," Delenn said, her voice reaching a seductive playful tone, "we cannot have that, now can we?"

Smiling slightly, she left him then, thinking wryly that she would never get any meditating done now.

John watched her go. A smile lightened his face and he knew, very definitely, that this time it was right...


End file.
